Category: Champions League

The Champions League final could be held in the USA — and we’re not talking CCL

UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said the showpiece could be heading stateside as soon as 2026

UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin has suggested that the UEFA Champions League final could be held in the United States in the future.

Čeferin said that holding the event in the U.S. would be a huge opportunity to cash in on the game’s growing popularity stateside.

In an appearance on the Men in Blazers podcast, Čeferin said: “It is possible [that the Champions League final could be in the U.S.]. We started to discuss about that, but then one year it is the World Cup, 2024 is Euro, this year is Istanbul, ’24 in London, ’25 in Munich. And after that let’s see. It’s possible, it’s possible. Football is extremely popular in United States these days. Americans are willing to pay this amount (gestures high with hand) for the best and nothing for the less. So they will follow European football as basketball lovers in Europe follow NBA.”

The president pointed to American TV ratings for UEFA events as part of a possible justification for bringing the Champions League final to the U.S.

“What shocked me actually is that our Euro (2020) finals, Europe national team finals, was watched by more people in United States than NBA Finals,” Čeferin said. “What shocked me is that 30 matches of the Euros, every match viewership was a Super Bowl viewership. So I think we are doing well.

“The problem is the time difference, because if you play [Champions League games on] Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 12 noon in LA, it’s a problem.”

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Thiago Silva would like to see Chelsea have any kind of strategy

Todd Boehly’s first season as owner will end with tons of money spent, four managers, and zero trophies

Chelsea’s season is pretty much over after the Blues fell 2-0 to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinal second leg on Tuesday.

The 4-0 aggregate defeat means Todd Boehly’s first season as owner will end with a lot of money spent, four managers, and zero trophies. Chelsea is currently mired in a miserable Premier League campaign that sees the club in 11th place, with caretaker boss Frank Lampard set to leave at season’s end.

The club has fallen flat in spite of (or maybe because of) an astronomical amount of investment in the transfer market. In January, Chelsea alone spent more on players than each of the other four top leagues in Europe.

Speaking to TNT Sports after Tuesday’s defeat, Chelsea defender Thiago Silva told some harsh truths about the club’s season. The Brazilian admitted that spending for spending’s sake isn’t the way to go, suggesting Boehly’s huge investment may have been detrimental to the club in 2022-23.

“We can’t be blaming the managers if we don’t take responsibility. It’s a hard period for the club, with a lot of indecision. Change of ownership, new players arriving – we had to increase the size of the changing room because it didn’t fit the size of the squad,” he said.

“A positive point is that there are amazing players in the squad but on the other hand there are always players that are going to be unhappy. There is always going to be someone upset because not everyone can play. The manager can only pick 11 from a squad of 30-something – that’s tough. Some can’t make the squad, we signed eight in January, we need to stop and put a strategy in place otherwise next season we could make the same mistakes.”

The veteran did make a point to highlight the culpability of the players in the club’s awful campaign.

“Everybody talks too much about replacing managers. I think we, as players, must also take responsibility,” the Brazilian continued. “We have had three managers this season, plus a fourth with Bruno where we failed to win. We have lost today and with Lampard we have failed to win. Everybody is talking about the manager but we must look at what has been done wrong and try to change.”

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Frank Lampard is fine with Todd Boehly’s vicious team talks

Boehly reportedly called Chelsea’s season “embarrassing” in a dressing room talk

Frank Lampard doesn’t have a whole lot of agency this time around as Chelsea head coach.

His caretaker manager stint will be ending after less than two months, regardless of the results he achieves. That was always going to be case after a rough stint in charge of Everton followed his sacking as Chelsea’s permanent manager two years ago.

Lampard wouldn’t be able to protest much if, say, his club’s owner called his team’s season “embarrassing” in the dressing room after yet another loss. He’d probably just be out the door ever faster than already planned.

And so, Lampard was in front of the media on Monday defending Todd Boehly’s widely reported pep talk to Chelsea after Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Brighton.

Asked if he had a problem with Chelsea’s owners addressing the team in the locker room, Lampard said: “I am comfortable with that. There was maybe some criticism of our old owner (Roman Abramovich) and not coming to the game, which wasn’t always true, to be fair. But I think when an owner is very invested in their interest in the team and want to help and improve, it is their prerogative to have the input that they want.”

Boehly was joined by fellow board members Behdad Eghbali and Hansjörg Wyss after a defeat that took Chelsea down to 11th in the Premier League table.

Lampard, Chelsea’s third coach of the season, has started his brief stint with three straight losses.

One of those defeats was a 2-0 reverse at Real Madrid in last week’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg. Facing a daunting second-leg task at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, Lampard hit back at suggestions that Chelsea is “broken” at the current moment.

“We are not where we want to be. That’s clear,” said Lampard. “But I think the word broken is a bit much. The league position is a reality, and we are 2-0 down in this game. We have to work against that.”

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Bayern Munich suspends Mane one game after Sane altercation

The Senegal international reportedly punched his teammate after a loss to Manchester City

Bayern Munich has announced that Sadio Mané has been suspended one game and fined for what it said was “his misconduct after Bayern’s Champions League match at Manchester City.”

That “misconduct” was widely reported to entail punching his teammate Leroy Sané in the face.

“Sadio Mané, 31, will not be included in the FC Bayern squad for this Saturday’s home match against 1899 Hoffenheim. This is due to his misconduct after Bayern’s Champions League match at Manchester City. Mané will also be given a fine,” a club statement said.

The disagreement between Mané and Sané began late in Bayern’s 3-0 quarterfinal first-leg defeat, when the former ran into space instead of checking to the ball like the latter wanted.

An on-pitch argument escalated after the game in the dressing room. Multiple reports stated that the Senegal star punched the Germany international, with the pair having to be separated by teammates.

Bayern will go into this weekend’s game against Hoffenheim holding a two-point lead atop the Bundesliga table over Borussia Dortmund. The Bavarian side will then return to Champions League action at home on Wednesday as they aim to overturn a three-goal deficit against Pep Guardiola’s side.

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Leroy Sane hid his lip upon return to Munich (because Sadio Mane punched it)

Things are not going great at Bayern!

Bayern Munich’s rough Champions League night at Man City on Tuesday didn’t end when the final whistle blew.

Instead, things only got worse when, according to multiple reports, Sadio Mané punched his teammate Leroy Sané in the face, leaving him with a bloody lip.

According to Bild, the disagreement began late in Bayern’s 3-0 quarterfinal first-leg defeat, when Mané ran into space instead of checking short for a pass from Sané.

This led to a disagreement that was visible on the pitch, but the argument escalated post-game in the dressing room to the point that Mané punched Sané, with the pair having to be separated by teammates.

Bayern has yet to publicly comment on the incident.

On Wednesday, all eyes were on Bayern’s players as they arrived back at the airport in Munich.

Sky said that Mané was picked up privately while Sané took the team bus.

Before he got on the bus, Sané appeared to be hiding his lower lip as he aimed to deprive clamoring photographers of visual evidence of the bust-up between him and the Senegal international.

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Champions League draw: Real Madrid, Chelsea paired up in quarterfinals

Some enticing pairings are in place for the last-eight

UEFA has conducted the draw for the rest of the 2022-23 Champions League, charting a course from the quarterfinals onward.

The last two tournament winners, Real Madrid and Chelsea, were paired in one quarterfinal, while Manchester City and Bayern Munich were put together for another titanic clash. An all-Serie A battle between Napoli and AC Milan also came out of the pot, while Benfica will face Inter in the round’s final match-up.

The Champions League will play out over the next three months, with the quarterfinals set for mid-April. The semifinals will take place in mid-May, while the Champions League final is scheduled for June 10 in Turkey.

Here are the quarterfinal pairings:

Pep Guardiola went on a very strange rant about Julia Roberts

The Man City boss called the actress “my idol”

Pep Guardiola had just watched his striker Erling Haaland turn in an incredible five-goal performance in the Champions League — so, naturally, he wanted to talk about Julia Roberts.

Man City destroyed RB Leipzig 7-0 on Tuesday, with a record-setting Haaland leading his team into the last eight of the competition.

The win seemed to put Guardiola in a freewheeling mood, with the City boss going full stream-of-consciousness in his post-game press conference.

He took aim at “the Twitter guys” for criticizing his team selection, said he took Haaland out because had he scored a record-breaking sixth goal, his life would be “boring” and, most notably, opined on Roberts’ visit to Old Trafford in 2016.

That visit, which took place early in Guardiola’s tenure at City, appears to have stuck with him just as much as any of his club’s Champions League failures.

“I have three idols in my life,” he said. “Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Julia Roberts.

“Julia Roberts years ago came to Manchester, not in the period of Alex Ferguson when they were winning title after title, in the last four or five years when we were better than them. But she didn’t come to see us. She went to visit Man United.

“Even if I win the Champions League, it will not [ease] the disappointment of Julia Roberts going to United. My idol.”

Huh.

United, of course, had a quick response on its Twitter account.

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Haaland goes supernova as Man City dumps RB Leipzig out of Champions League

It’s hard to keep track of how many times Haaland scored

Where do you even begin with Erling Haaland and Manchester City’s Champions League showing on Tuesday?

Let’s start with the facts: Man City tore RB Leipzig to shreds in their second-leg clash at the Etihad Stadium, winning 7-0 and sealing a 8-1 aggregate win. Haaland scored five times, equaling a Champions League record held by Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano for goals in a single match in the competition.

The goal barrage took Haaland up to 39 goals in 36 appearances in his first season with Man City, which are the most in one season by a player in the club’s history (the previous record of 38 had stood since 1929). Haaland’s second on the night was his 30th in the Champions League in just 26 appearances in the competition, the lowest total to surpass the 30-goal mark. Only 23 players in Champions League history have more goals than Haaland’s total of 32.

For a spell at least, RB Leipzig was not being run off the field. They were certainly having to defend for long spells, but after 20 minutes the scoreboard still read 0-0. However, a rather controversial penalty, confirmed by VAR, broke their resolve. Haaland put just enough power on his low spot kick to beat goalkeeper Janis Blaswich, and City were ahead.

That could have sparked Leipzig into stepping their game up and challenging Man City; after all, the aggregate score at that point was merely 2-1. Instead, less than two full minutes later, Haaland finished off a distinctly un-Man City goal. Manuel Akanji thumped a desperate Leipzig long ball forward in hope more than anything else, and Haaland nodded it down for Kevin De Bruyne.

Under some pressure, De Bruyne decided to just have a crack at it from distance, sending a laser that that crashed off the crossbar and into Haaland’s path. From there, Haaland did the “big lad” thing and headed into the unguarded net.

Leipzig was not completely out of it, and recovered their feet to enough of an extent that it seemed like they’d get in for the halftime break down a mere 2-0. However, in the half’s final seconds, Rúben Dias met a corner at the back post, nodding the ball off the post.

Dias was already celebrating as the ball bounced along the goal line, but Haaland’s decision to charge in just to be sure ended up being a good call. Amadou Haidara attempted a dramatic clearance literally off the line, but as he spun to hoof the ball away, it was blocked into the goal by who else but the Norwegian striker.

Leipzig trudged off in need of a miracle comeback, but things got so much worse. Just four minutes into the half, İlkay Gündoğan danced around Haidara on the edge of the box, opening up room to sneak a fourth past Blaswich. It marked the 100th goal for Man City in the 2022-23 campaign.

A defeated Leipzig simply didn’t have the intensity to keep Man City from running up the score, and Haaland wouldn’t be denied a fourth. Another corner for the hosts found Leipzig’s defending to be a suggestion rather than a true obstacle.

Spare a thought for Blaswich, who did extremely well to stop Haaland’s header and a follow-up from Akanji, only to have to watch Haaland smash the rebound past him anyway.

Haaland’s fifth was a near replay of the fourth. This time, the set piece was taken short, but once again Akanji put a shot on frame, and Blaswich somehow managed to claw it away.

By now, you know the rest.

Pep Guardiola showed some mercy to the visitors, bringing Haaland off in the 63rd minute for Julián Álvarez. Sadly for Leipzig, even that didn’t signal an end to the onslaught, with De Bruyne scoring an absolute wonder goal in stoppage time.

Good luck to whatever team has to deal with Haaland and Man City in the quarterfinal! They’re going to need it.

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Bayern condemn PSG to yet another Champions League disappointment

PSG once again came up short in the Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League agonies will last for at least another year.

PSG’s wait for European glory carried on Wednesday as they crashed out of the Champions League in the round of 16 after a 3-0 aggregate loss to a disciplined, clinical Bayern Munich.

At the Allianz Arena, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s second half goal condemned a short-handed PSG to more Champions League disappointment, with the Ligue 1 juggernaut once again not able to translate domestic dominance at a continental level. Serge Gnabry tacked on a late goal to ensure celebrations in Bavaria.

Bayern’s game-winning goals in the two legs both came from ex-PSG players, with Choupo-Moting having left them for Bayern in 2020 and first-leg scorer Kingsley Coman a PSG academy product.

It’s been like this for a long, long time. PSG’s lone European trophy remains the 1995-96 Cup Winners’ Cup, which is a competition that stopped existing before the turn of the century. They have had some close calls, losing the 2019-20 final (again to Bayern), but today’s defeat comes at a familiar stage. This is the fifth time in the last seven seasons they’ve been eliminated at the first knockout hurdle.

That will likely result in some real pressure for manager Christophe Galtier, though injuries to Neymar (which likely influenced a formation change), Presnel Kimpembe, and Renato Sanches were further compounded by multiple enforced substitutions on Wednesday.

Despite those issues, PSG competed on equal terms for a long spell of the first half in a second leg they had to win. However, once the golden opportunity to equalize arrived, they weren’t ready.

Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer, having received a back-pass, was pressured by Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi, with the latter jarring the ball loose with a tackle. Sommer attempted a lunging tackle of his own on Vitinha, who calmly dodged that effort and sized up an empty net.

Surely the moment for PSG, right?

Wrong. Matthijs de Ligt sprinted onto the scene seemingly from nowhere, arriving just in time to slice Vitinha’s rolling shot off the line. Leo Messi had his head in his hands, Marco Verratti literally fell down upon seeing the shot not actually give them a lead, and PSG were stuck at 0-0.

In retrospect, it was a moment that changed the match. PSG’s Champions League misfortunes only grew: Marquinhos had been substituted due to a possible hip injury just two minutes before de Ligt’s denial, compounding PSG’s availability problems.

It only got worse, though, as his replacement Nordi Mukiele was then replaced at halftime by El Chadaille Bitshiabu.

Bayern sensed a foe that lacked the confidence befitting a side that can start Mbappé and Messi together, and pounced as the second half wore on. Choupo-Moting thought he had his goal in the 51st minute, but VAR ended up pulling it back after Thomas Müller was judged to be offside and involved in the play as he reached out for what turned out to be an unnecessary stab at a finish.

This should have been the wake-up call for PSG, but they never really got going again. Choupo-Moting would strike again shortly thereafter, and this time PSG wasn’t saved by VAR. Müller and Leon Goretzka pressured Verratti into a turnover, with Goretzka drawing the defense before sliding a pass over to the Cameroon striker for a simple finish.

For Choupo-Moting it marked his team-leading 17th of the season; for PSG, it was effectively game over. The Parisians only truly came close to making a game of it through Sergio Ramos’ 64th minute header, only for Sommer to come up with a top-drawer save. Such is life when you’re PSG in the Champions League.

Serge Gnabry would finish the game off late, firing home after João Cancelo’s 70-yard run left a scrambling PSG defense with little hope of intervention.

Bayern will join Chelsea, AC Milan, Benfica, and four more teams in the quarterfinal draw, while PSG’s herd of superstars will be left pondering what it will take to actually advance in this competition.

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Chelsea saves season, and possibly Potter’s job, with Champions League success over Dortmund

At least for now, the pressure on Potter is reduced

Graham Potter looks set to last at least a little bit longer as Chelsea’s head coach.

The under-fire manager got the result he desperately needed, with Chelsea advancing in the Champions League by coming back from a one-goal deficit with a 2-0 second leg victory over Borussia Dortmund.

Despite their recent struggles, a largely confident Blues side left goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with little to do at Stamford Bridge. Goals from Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz — the former indisputable, the second the source of significant controversy — paved the way to a critical win.

Early on, it looked like Chelsea might continue to torment their fans, controlling much of the match but failing to turn that into the needed goal. Most notably, Havertz hit the post midway through the first half, and then had his 38th minute goal chalked off after Sterling was caught offside earlier in the sequence.

Sterling would at last provide the crucial breakthrough, as the England attacker made up for whiffing on Ben Chilwell’s initial cross to collect himself and power a shot past Dortmund goalkeeper Alexander Meyer in the 44th minute.

Chelsea’s relief was palpable, but this year at least, the Blues never seem to take the easy way. Marius Wolf was caught handling a cross early in the second half, with Havertz eventually stepping up to the spot.

His stutter-step got Meyer to give away his intentions, leaving Havertz with an open half of the shoot into. Fans were already celebrating, but Havertz’ casual shot hit the foot of the post before bouncing away to safety.

However, Chelsea would be saved by another VAR intervention: replays showed that four Dortmund players (and three more from Chelsea) were all clearly guilty of encroachment as Havertz struck the ball.

Referee Danny Makkelie — much to the chagrin of Dortmund players, who offered a solid minute of remonstrations — gave a re-take (as is required by the Laws of the Game when both teams encroach). Havertz and Meyer re-enacted the exact same sequence, but this time the forward’s aim was slightly better.

Fortunate? Certainly, but maybe Chelsea has been overdue a bit of luck. The goal marked the first time in 2023 that they’d scored more than one goal in a given game.

They couldn’t manage a third, something they still haven’t done under Potter. Conor Gallagher came in off the bench to finish off a 75th minute break against a stretched Dortmund defense, but once again Sterling was caught offside in the build-up. Yet again, Potter and the crowd at Stamford Bridge were denied a chance to exhale.

Dortmund finally mounted some late pressure on Arrizabalaga’s goal, but a handful of shots went straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper, and the Blues held on for a deserved win.

Pressure on Potter reduced…for now

Chelsea’s place in the Champions League’s final eight may have been something of an obligation no matter the circumstances, but for Potter, overcoming a 1-0 first leg deficit to advance may have been a requirement to keep his job.

“There was a fantastic feeling in the dressing room. We have been through a tough period and this competition means a lot for us,” Potter told BT Sport after the match. “We wanted to progress and get into the last eight and it sets us up for the next few weeks… It is great for the boys, two clean sheets after a tough period. You get that in life and it is about how you respond and the players have been fantastic.”

Chelsea’s struggles over the past four months have seen them tumble down to 10th place in the Premier League, and they’ve been eliminated from both domestic cup competitions to boot.

Potter’s tenure began on a positive note: he debuted with a 1-1 Champions League group stage against RB Salzburg, but Chelsea then fired off five straight wins, and at one point held opponents scoreless across 622 consecutive minutes.

However, a 4-1 loss to Potter’s previous club Brighton on October 29 seemed to throw them off course. That game started a rotten run that has seen them lose 12 times out of 20 games, and includes a 4-0 loss to Manchester City in the FA Cup (Pep Guardiola’s side also knocked Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup in this span), as well as home losses to Arsenal and relegation strugglers Southampton.

That run would have put Potter under quite a bit of pressure anyway. Coming after Todd Boehly’s new ownership group spent $392 million transfer outlay this winter (and just shy of another $300 million over the summer), Chelsea wasn’t expecting to be mid-table strugglers who rarely score. They’re supposed to win, and win right now, in style.

Getting into March 17’s quarterfinal draw will relieve some of that pressure, but only briefly. Four of Chelsea’s next five matches in the league are against teams from the bottom half of the table. Further slip-ups would mitigate their success against Dortmund to such an extent that those quarterfinal fixtures could see Potter battling for his job all over again.

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